Artwork For Bats
by Germany11
Summary: Joker wants Batman to visit him in Arkham Asylum and see his drawings. *One Shot, *Batman/Joker


**(A/N:My fanfic gift for the amazingly talented Wolffang91 on tumblr.))**

Arkham Asylum, Gotham's home for the criminally insane this city created, and the dwelling place of the most dangerous man in particular, the Joker. For a facility that was supposed to be dedicated to curing the mentally unsound, it was said that staying in Arkham too long would drive the sanest man to lunacy. From the outdated therapy techniques to the gloomy, dark halls that never seemed to have enough power for lighting to the corrupted staff that would rather slack off on their duties to downright abusing their patients. Yes, Arkham Asylum was in need of changes if the rehabilitation of Gotham's worst would ever be a possibility. Perhaps, that's why the facility had become infamous as more of a revolving door than a mental institution.

Batman had walked these dreary halls more times than he could count; heard the incessant ramblings of the deranged to the screams of the drugged induced residents and watched guards giving him inconspicuous dirty looks, that they thought he didn't notice, and he was positive they disliked him as much as the criminals who he had brought here did. As, Bruce Wayne, he went through tiresome efforts to improve the facility, but as his crusade against crime in Gotham City went, when one problem was solved, three more would sprout forth. An irony that was not a loss on him, but one he would fight against until a real difference was made.

Tonight, he was here on a mission for information on a missing child; a little girl the age of eight. A crime of that nature wouldn't normally drive him to this bleak place, but the nature of the situation presented to him gave him no alternative. If it wasn't for the body reported by the father, found in the home of the deceased mother with a permanent smile on her face, then Batman wouldn't have even thought to come here in the first place. Joker was the only conclusive suspect as the cause of death for the woman fit his M.O. The problem was the clown had been locked up in Arkham Asylum for the past three months and not once had attempted an escape. Despite this, the clown was the only one who would have an inkling of knowledge of the child's whereabouts.

A fact had become apparent. For years now, the one person who could even be slightly capable of getting the Joker to answer questions somewhat honestly in an interrogation was Batman. Didn't matter the nature of the crime that was perpetrated, if Batman was not present for questioning at the clown's request, then he would just ramble on about pointless things or go silent completely. It was a power play in its own way between the two of them, with Joker wanting to prove to the Dark Knight that if the clown wanted to see him then Batman would be forced to come and see him. A game that irked on Batman's patience every single time.

Already ire with soon being in the presence of the Asylum's worst inhabitant, Batman prepared his mind. Joker was a master manipulator and if he found one leeway to gain in a person's composure he would break away at mental walls piece by piece. In Batman's case, that mental warfare always targeted his temper. The clown would continue to push him until the day that the Dark Knight would fall off the razor's edge he was already walking on. Violence was what the madman craved and brutality is what he usually received. In the past, Joker had gotten close to making Batman lose his restraint on breaking his one rule. The death of Jason Todd and the crippling of Barbara Gordon pushed him to the brink, and if it wasn't for his own will power, he would have fallen off the path and fell into the darkness he kept buried within.

Batman didn't know how Joker had managed to find a way to be the cause of the woman's murder and her daughter's abduction, but he knew he wouldn't be leaving Arkham Asylum until he found out. Preparing himself for a long night ahead of him, he made his way to the solitary confinement wing. Joker had been placed there a week ago after an incident involving a spoon and leaving a guard permanently blind. Apparently the guard had tried to confiscate a stuffed teddy bear that had been given to the madman at some point during his many stays at the facility. Possessiveness was always in the Joker's nature and if someone didn't realize that then they would find out with devastating results.

The Dark Knight had seen first-hand the levels Joker would go if someone touched what was considered his. Begrudgingly to him, Joker had made his claim that Batman belonged to no one but the clown. There was a time when the madman had killed his own henchmen for even attempting of trying to Batman. Once when Harley Quinn, who Joker even viewed as his possession, had gotten Batman in a situation he couldn't get out of, Bruce had used the clown's possessive nature to his benefit. It was one of the many flaws the madman possessed, and even if it usually led to the death of those who would test his limits, that same nature could also be used as a weapon against him. A strategical advantage that Bruce would deploy is the situation was ever needed.

The door to the cell housing the "Clown Prince of Crime" behind it was looming in front of him. He knew full well that once he stepped inside he'd be facing madness incarnate. Fighting the Joker on rooftops of this city was different than the confined space that he would be subjecting himself to. A situation the required more of a tactical mind than brute strength when they opposed each other. For it would be too uncomplicated to lose himself when there wasn't much to the Joker could do to defend himself from onslaughts of an enraged Bat. The guards wouldn't stop the Bat if at any moment he decided letting the clown live was no longer an option. When his mind was prepared as it could be for the meeting with the madman, he gave the signaling nod to the guards and stepped inside the abode of madness, the loud slam of the door was deafening in the white padded room.

Green eyes glanced in the Bat's direction as a smile beamed in his direction. Where purple attire was usually present was only white of the Arkham uniform and straight jacket that he had gotten himself free from. Joker was sitting with his back leaned against the padded white walls and a hand on his knee that was up slightly in a comfortable position. Batman had expected more of a reaction to his arrival than he had received. Joker looked as if he couldn't be at all bothered that violence against his person could ensue at a drop of a hat. Blue eyes, took in the small confined space between him.

Drawings littered the floor around the clown that caught Bruce's attention. Words that read "Die Bats" on one with "BatJoke" scribbled three times on another, both written in red. Several of the other ones were of them in different scenarios. Why anyone who worked here would allow the Joker paper and crayons after removing another guards eyes was completely asinine to think about. As his eyes took in each drawing, none of them all too pleasant to look at, he shook his head at the absurdity as he turned his focus on the clown. Joker hadn't spoken a word as of yet and seemed perfectly content to just watch Batman take in his artwork. Only when Bruce opened his mouth to speak did Joker beat him to it.

"Hello, Darling, I wasn't expecting you. How nice of you to visit lil' ol' me. Did you miss me as much as I've missed you? How's our playground treating you without me around to entertain you?" He entwined his fingers, before continuing, "I know, I know, I should have been out weeks ago, but what can I say? This place might be growing on me. _Heh_ , alright, that's a lie, but oh!" His green eyes widened as he looked around the small space. "Sorry, I can't be a better host for your visit, but you know how the guards can get with their-"

"Where is she, Joker?" Having enough of the clown's ramblings, he interrupted as his eyes narrowed at the still sitting maniac.

Joker gave Batman a perplexed look as he tilted his head. Feigning ignorance of why the Dark Knight was here in the first place. It was as if Batman would visit him regularly like they were old friends.

"I don't know if the guards told you this, Bats, but they are trying to implement a policy to keep the crazy females away from us deviously handsome maniacs. If you're looking for a she, you might want to try another ward. I could, ah, give you directions there, if I wanted to make myself jealous, that is. Which I don't. I'm sure you understand."

Clenching his fist as he tried to keep his temper in check a task that he was sure would be very futile the longer he spent in the clowns company. He took a step forward, which only caused the Joker's smile to widen.

"No more games, Joker." His tone deadly serious.

"I like games… and so do you." Joker rebutted.

"I want information and you're going to tell me what I want to know."

Raising a green challenging brow, he turned his head away from Batman as he waved a disinterested hand. "You're always making assertions you can't back up, Batsy." The clown stretched his arms in the air before positioning them behind his head in a bored fashion. "You might as well run along, little Bat. You're becoming blander by the second."

Batman knew what the Joker wanted. It was the same thing that he always did and even if he gave in there was never a guarantee that the madman would talk. It always was a roll of the dice when it came to him, never knowing if one might come out on top or if they would just be made a fool of. However, with a child's life on the line giving the Joker what he was craving from the Dark Knight was the best solution to get information out of him. So, when black gloves gripped the straight jacket and roughly hoisted him up off the ground, green eyes snapped back to look into blue and Batman knew he had walked right into the Joker's game.

"Casey Davis… where is she? I know you're behind her disappearance."

"What gave you that impression? Have you gone blind, Bat? I'm right here with you, not off somewhere with some kiddie with a dead mother."

The taunt was all it took for Batman to slam the Joker into the padded wall, wishing it was brick instead for a more desired effect, removing one hand as the other kept the clown in place, for he could deliver a hard blow right into the Joker's face. Another hit followed by four more after that, before he threw Joker across the small confide space, Joker's back hit the wall and he fell onto his stomach. Laughter erupting from his limp form.

Spitting out crimson onto the white floor beneath him, Joker lifted himself up a little with his hands to rest on his elbows. His head held up by his splayed hands. Even bloody as he was now, he seemed as content as when the Dark Knight first arrived. Acidic eyes looked at Batman and despite the blood dripping from his chalk white face he grinned.

"Thank you for decorating my room, Batman. There really did need to be more color and crayons aren't really that effective."

It was evidently clear to Bruce at that moment that he had been going through this whole interrogation all wrong. Joker had wanted violence from the very start. That was a likely reason why the clown had orchestrated all of this from the murderer of a woman to her daughter's abduction. Bringing, Batman here had been a disturbed game to quench the Joker's boredom and realizing that in doing so the clown had no reasons to reveal anything to the detective.

Blue eyes looked down at the drawings on the ground and that's when he knew he had won their power play. Joker may have been clever enough to get the reactions he wanted out of him, but Batman always one step ahead. It would have been easy to smirk at the unknowing madman, but he refused to do so. Inside, he allowed himself the satisfaction at beating Joker at his own game without the madman's knowledge that leading the Bat here was his downfall. It would have been humorous how wide acidic eyes went and how fast Joker tried to stand up if a kick to the stomach and Batman straddling the Joker's back, knees pinning the clowns arms was now preventing him to do so, with Joker's drawings in hand, if there hadn't been a child's life in danger.

"What are you doing, Bat?" Joker's tone was venomous. His body struggling underneath, Batman's body became more sporadic. Needing to put more pressure on the clown to keep him in place. Knowing, he couldn't keep the madman stuck in that position for long, he would have to implement his plan now.

"Tell me what I want to know." Batman slowly started to tear the top of one of the pictures the Joker had drawn. The clown's body stilled momentarily at the sound.

"Those. Are. Mine!" He annunciated, his voice going sharper with each word.

"Her location, Joker. Now."

"Get off me, Batsy!" Joker growled.

Joker let out a breath as the sound of one of his drawings being ripped in half resonated deep into his core. Batman knew that just ripping one of the drawings was a warning that if he didn't get the information all of them would be torn to pieces. The madman's body began to shake uncontrollably and Bruce would have felt slightly guilty if this was anyone else but the Joker. Thrashing his body around as he desperately tried to get Batman off of him. Keeping his weight as balanced as he could with the man underneath him fighting like a cornered animal he slowly ripped the top of another one of the drawings.

"Not until you tell me where she is."

"I mean it, get off now!"

"No." He started to rip the picture more, in a slower motion than previously to prove his point.

"I'll kill you for this Bat!" Joker spat out, breathing heavily.

"No, you won't."

Turning his head the best he could to face the Dark Knight, green eyes held an underlining threat and Bruce knew that the next thing the clown would say would be another push off the ledge his mental state was already on when they were around each other. Joker didn't disappoint with his next words.

" _Heh_ , maybe I won't, but do you really want to risk what I'll do in retaliation? How many people do you think I can kill in a day or let's say a week, maybe even a month, if you really want to push me, before I allow you to find me next time I'm out? Which let's face it, you know I'll get out. How much blood do you want on your hands this time, Batman?" The terms of endearment pushed to the side to prove how serious his threat actually was.

They were at an impasse waiting on how this game of theirs would play out. Batman knew for a fact that Joker could and would do exactly what he had just promised. Joker wouldn't even blink at killing as many people as he wanted if Batman pushed him to it. It was a known fact that Joker's actions were done for Batman's attention, but if push came to shove and he acted out in revenge then the results would be devastating. It was petty that the clown would result in causing as much havoc as psychically possible over a few drawings that he did, but that's exactly what he would do if Batman ripped another one of them. This situation was turning more dangerous by the second that he hesitated. Allowing himself to give up the upper hand would be detrimental in saving the missing girl but if he didn't then latter others would pay dearly for that decision. On the other side, every time Joker was out people had died but the number of casualties would change drastically this time. Batman didn't know what to do, with his silence and lack of action the Joker laughed menacingly in triumphant.

"How about this, Batsy?" His voice was calmer now. "I'm always telling you how you need to trust me more. So, take this as a trust exercise and a step forward in our relationship. If you be a good, little, flying rodent and get off me and hand me back my pictures, maybe, just maybe, I'll tell you what you want to know." He grinned at the man on top of him. "What do you say? Hmm. Best make a decision soon. I'll give you let's say ten seconds to decide. Starting, now. Ten."

Putting trust in anything the Joker said would be a grievous mistake. The clown was a compulsive liar and he knew that. Letting himself to freely lose control over a situation went against everything that Batman was.

"Nine."

Bruce just couldn't do it. If he gave in this one time to Joker's demands then who knew how many more times, the clown would exploit that weakness in the future. How many lives would be lost if he bent even just for a second?

"Eight."

Joker could count all he wanted, Batman told himself. He would not play this game.

"Seven."

Casey Davis life was still in peril and the only strategy that he could find since he had gotten here was the most effective. If Batman couldn't find her, if she was even still alive, then she was as sure as dead.

"Six." Joker's voice sounded even more impatient now.

Batman kept his determination as keeping the upper hand as his time was running out.

"Five." Joker growled out and was becoming more enraged.

The madman's threat was still present in Bruce's mind. If he didn't give Joker what he wanted, then could he handle the consequences? Could Gotham handle it? Harmless threats weren't part of the clown's forte. He always knew Joker to follow through on whatever horrendous atrocity he was willing to commit. This time there was a slight chance that a worse fate for Gotham's citizens could be avoided and all Batman had to do was budge just this one time.

"Four, and by the way, I'm losing my _patience_ with you, darling."

Could he allow himself to budge and give in this one time to the Joker if it meant that lives could be save? Batman put himself in risk night after night to save the innocents of Gotham, to hopefully prevent the same thing that happened to him as a child from ever happening to anyone else.

"Three."

Was this time any different?

"Two."

Before, Joker could finish counting, Batman moved himself off of the madman. Green eyes watched him curiously as he took a step back. Not saying a word even when the madman let out a chuckle as his grin returned. Joker sat up and leaned against the padded wall in the same demeanor as he had been in when Batman arrived. His palm face up to the Dark Knight as his eyes glanced from his hand to blue eyes expectantly. Gritting his teeth and using every will power Bruce had, he handed the clown those sick drawings that Joker was willing to kill hundreds of people over.

"I have to say, I'm proud of you. Didn't think you had it in you, Batsy," his voice was sugary sweet and Bruce could had a bitter taste in his mouth just from that hearing tone alone. Joker put the pictures on his lap and clapped his hands happily. "Finally some progress has been made between us. Here I thought I was the only one who was trying to keep our relationship together."

"Shut up, Joker. Time to tell me the information I came here for."

"Always so serious, I think that's the next thing we need to fix with you."

"Joker."

"Oh, alright!" He threw his hands up over dramatically. For longer than Bruce was comfortable with, Joker didn't say a word as it looked like he was about to turn back on his word. Which wouldn't surprise, Batman in the least when he did.

"So, Bat, ever been married? Nah, I don't see you as the marrying type. You're way too brooding and no charisma to you at all. Don't worry, you'll always have me to keep you company on those long nights. We can even snuggle up in this padded cell together if you want. I can promise I won't try and strangle you, in your sleep."

"What's that-"

"Shush. As I was saying!" Joker glared, before his carefree demeanor returned. "Since you have never been married, you wouldn't know how maddening a divorce could be. Not that I would know, _hehe_. But I've heard it can make a man go insane. One bad day type of madness. We both know how that is?"

"Stop wasting my time."

"Me? Waste your time? I would never, no, never do that." Joker gasped and placed a hand to his heart over dramatically.

"Get to the point." Batman was losing all patience he had for the clown and was debating with himself to go back to resorting to violence no matter how ineffective it would be. It might make him feel better though.

"See, the point is, in that madness it makes people seek out like minded crazies and who's no better to talk to than yours truly? I've been told I give the best advice. Better than the quacks employed here, that's for sure."

Alarming clarity was making itself known within Batman's mind. How Joker's ramblings were starting to make even more sense with each passing moment. Becoming even more a painful reminder of how manipulative the Joker could be. Allowing even a second of Joker to influence someone would give the psychopath all the tools to break apart who a person was leaving nothing left but what the clown wanted.

"There was this guard who always looked so down. The guy was even more brooding than you, darling, if that's even possible." Joker tsked. "I, being the good clown that I am, decided I'd help this poor bloke. Oh, speaking of that, my offer to help you is always on the table by the way," he winked at an irritated Bat. "Poor Mr. Davis was going to lose everything because of the minx. Arkham doesn't exactly pay the guards much of an earning, it turns out. When he informed me of his loss in the custody battle, it brought a pity in my heart for the old chum."

Batman knew exactly what Joker was going to say and turned to leave as he didn't need any more pieces of the puzzle. Joker despite this continued telling his story.

"He wanted a way out of his situation. He was even so depressed as to want to kill himself. That would be no fun, I told him. If he wanted to get what he wanted, then I was more than willing to lead my assistance to his dilemma. So I used my connections in this place to get him some of my wonderful smiley toxin. _Hehe_."

That stopped Batman in his tracks, but he didn't turn around.

"Who in here is helping you?" Batman knew that Joker would not answer that question but he asked it anyways.

"Now, Batsy, you're the detective silly. Figure it out."

As Batman knocked on the door twice, his signal for the guards that he was finished. His new goal for the night was confronting, Luke Davis on his daughter's location and bringing him to justice for the murder of his wife. As the doors opened, he took a step and stopped. One question was plaguing his mind and against his better judgement, he looked over his shoulder at the smiling madman whose green eyes held admiration for him.

"One last question, Joker."

"Anything for you, Darling. Ask away."

"Why did you want me to come here tonight?" They both knew that the only reason Joker had bothered convincing the man to go through the task of murdering his wife, and the trouble of moving his daughter to a new location, was because the clown had wanted Batman to stop by and see him. That's why the psychopath had given the guard "Joker Venom" as a calling card for the Dark Knight to follow. Joker laughed amused at the question and held up the drawings he drew that Batman had tried to use to gain the upper hand in their confrontation.

"Isn't it obvious, Bat? I just wanted you to see the drawings I made for you! Do you like them?"

Without another word Batman left Joker's room. The metal door closing and locking the maniac in. All because of artwork Joker had made for the Bat, a family had been forever ruined.


End file.
